China News Service, Nur-Sultan, February 18. Kiev news: Tensions in eastern Ukraine continued. The Ukrainian government army and the eastern civilian armed forces accused each other of firing near the ceasefire line.
Civilian armed forces in eastern Uzbekistan announced on social media on the 17th that the Ukrainian government army used mortars to attack their area.
The attack caused power outages to hundreds of households. A medical facility and several houses were also bombed, and a civilian was injured.
The Ukrainian government denied the allegation of the attack, saying the army was attacked by the Ukrainian civilian armed forces.
According to the news released by the Ukrainian military, as of 22:00 that day, Ukraine had recorded 50 violations of the ceasefire agreement by the eastern civil forces, of which more than 40 times used weapons such as artillery, mortars and tanks prohibited by the Minsk agreement.
Ukrainian armed forces commander-in-chief Zaluzhny said that the Ukrainian military abides by the Minsk agreement and the norms of international humanitarian law and does not plan to conduct any offensive operations.
Zaluzhny stressed that the actions of the Ukrainian army were purely defensive in nature.
According to a statement issued by the Press Center of the Ukrainian Joint Forces Operational Command on the 17th, a kindergarten was hit during the artillery attack by the Ukrainian civilian armed forces, causing two civilians to be injured.
In addition, the shelling damaged some infrastructure near the town.
According to local media reports, the Ukrainian National Emergency Situation Agency personnel evacuated the local residents urgently.
In April 2014, large-scale clashes between Ukrainian government troops and civilian armed forces broke out in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Through the mediation of the international community, the two parties to the conflict reached a ceasefire agreement in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Since then, large-scale armed conflicts have been brought under control, but small-scale exchanges of fire have occurred from time to time.
(over)